Books with title The Dark History of Ancient Rome

New York Times Bestseller A New York Times Notable Book Named one of the Best Books of the Year by the Wall Street Journal, the Economist,Foreign Affairs, and Kirkus Reviews Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award (Nonfiction) Shortlisted for the Cundill Prize in Historical Literature Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize (History) A San Francisco Chronicle Holiday Gift Guide Selection A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice SelectionA sweeping, "magisterial" history of the Roman Empire from one of our foremost classicists shows why Rome remains "relevant to people many centuries later" (Atlantic). In SPQR, an instant classic, Mary Beard narrates the history of Rome "with passion and without technical jargon" and demonstrates how "a slightly shabby Iron Age village" rose to become the "undisputed hegemon of the Mediterranean" (Wall Street Journal). Hailed by critics as animating "the grand sweep and the intimate details that bring the distant past vividly to life" (Economist) in a way that makes "your hair stand on end" (Christian Science Monitor) and spanning nearly a thousand years of history, this "highly informative, highly readable" (Dallas Morning News) work examines not just how we think of ancient Rome but challenges the comfortable historical perspectives that have existed for centuries. With its nuanced attention to class, democratic struggles, and the lives of entire groups of people omitted from the historical narrative for centuries, SPQR will to shape our view of Roman history for decades to come. 100 illustrations; 16 pages of color; 5 maps

A sweeping, revisionist history of the Roman Empire from one of our foremost classicists.Ancient Rome was an imposing city even by modern standards, a sprawling imperial metropolis of more than a million inhabitants, a "mixture of luxury and filth, liberty and exploitation, civic pride and murderous civil war" that served as the seat of power for an empire that spanned from Spain to Syria. Yet how did all this emerge from what was once an insignificant village in central Italy? In S.P.Q.R., world-renowned classicist Mary Beard narrates the unprecedented rise of a civilization that even two thousand years later still shapes many of our most fundamental assumptions about power, citizenship, responsibility, political violence, empire, luxury, and beauty.From the foundational myth of Romulus and Remus to 212 ce―nearly a thousand years later―when the emperor Caracalla gave Roman citizenship to every free inhabitant of the empire, S.P.Q.R. (the abbreviation of "The Senate and People of Rome") examines not just how we think of ancient Rome but challenges the comfortable historical perspectives that have existed for centuries by exploring how the Romans thought of themselves: how they challenged the idea of imperial rule, how they responded to terrorism and revolution, and how they invented a new idea of citizenship and nation.Opening the book in 63 bce with the famous clash between the populist aristocrat Catiline and Cicero, the renowned politician and orator, Beard animates this “terrorist conspiracy,” which was aimed at the very heart of the Republic, demonstrating how this singular event would presage the struggle between democracy and autocracy that would come to define much of Rome’s subsequent history. Illustrating how a classical democracy yielded to a self-confident and self-critical empire, S.P.Q.R. reintroduces us, though in a wholly different way, to famous and familiar characters―Hannibal, Julius Caesar, Cleopatra, Augustus, and Nero, among others―while expanding the historical aperture to include those overlooked in traditional histories: the women, the slaves and ex-slaves, conspirators, and those on the losing side of Rome’s glorious conquests.Like the best detectives, Beard sifts fact from fiction, myth and propaganda from historical record, refusing either simple admiration or blanket condemnation. Far from being frozen in marble, Roman history, she shows, is constantly being revised and rewritten as our knowledge expands. Indeed, our perceptions of ancient Rome have changed dramatically over the last fifty years, and S.P.Q.R., with its nuanced attention to class inequality, democratic struggles, and the lives of entire groups of people omitted from the historical narrative for centuries, promises to shape our view of Roman history for decades to come. 100 illustrations; 16 pages of color; 5 maps

Sunday Times Top 10 BestsellerShortlisted for a British Book Industry Book of the Year Award 2016The new series Ultimate Rome: Empire Without Limit is on BBC2 nowAncient Rome matters.Its history of empire, conquest, cruelty and excess is something against which we still judge ourselves. Its myths and stories - from Romulus and Remus to the Rape of Lucretia - still strike a chord with us. And its debates about citizenship, security and the rights of the individual still influence our own debates on civil liberty today.SPQR is a new look at Roman history from one of the world's foremost classicists. It explores not only how Rome grew from an insignificant village in central Italy to a power that controlled territory from Spain to Syria, but also how the Romans thought about themselves and their achievements, and why they are still important to us. Covering 1,000 years of history, and casting fresh light on the basics of Roman culture from slavery to running water, as well as exploring democracy, migration, religious controversy, social mobility and exploitation in the larger context of the empire, this is a definitive history of ancient Rome.SPQR is the Romans' own abbreviation for their state: Senatus Populusque Romanus, 'the Senate and People of Rome'.

"Contains proofs of the Japanese descent from Osee, the last king of Israel." -A Bibliography of the Japanese Empire (1895)"The descendants of a Negro race may also be seen in different parts of the country." -Nicholas McLeod"Spent decades in Japan, wrote Japanese history as a history of the ten tribes in the Japanese isles." -The Ten Lost Tribes: A World History (2009)"McLeod self-published several books theorizing the Japanese people were actually Israelites." -Early Mormon Missionary Activities in Japan (2010)"Speculated that Japanese people themselves may be direct descendants of part of the Ten Lost Tribes." -Jesus: From India to Japan (2017)"One group was what he called the Japanese Jewish people, even mentioned a black race, similar to those in Africa." -Rediscovering Japan (2010)"A good summary of evidence for Jewish origins found by that author, still mentioned by proponents today." -The Sacred Science of Ancient Japan (2014)Can evidence of the Lost Tribes of Israel be found in Japan? Yes, the holy class of Japan is descended from the Lost Tribes of Israel; the first known king of Japan was called Osee and came to the throne in 730 B.C., identifying him with Hoshea, the last king of Israel, who died in 722 B.C. Or so claims Nicholas McLeod in his 1878 book "Epitome of the Ancient History of Japan."A Scot who started his career in the herring industry before he ended up in Japan as a missionary, Nicholas McLeod (1868–1889) was a native of the Isle of Skye, Scotland, who was known for his theory that the Japanese people descended from the Lost Tribes of Israel. McLeod also provides evidence that "descendants of a Negro race" could be found in remote regions of Japan. McLeod's 1878 book contain extensive comparisons of the religious rituals of Judaism and Shintoism as evidence of the links between ancient Israel and Japan.According to Zvi Ben-Dor Benite, MacLeod had been a missionary who spent decades in Japan and Korea "searching for the true Israelites". The following passage is an example from the book in which McLeod draws correlations between his observations on Japan and the fulfillment of biblical prophecy: "The civilized race of the Aa. Inus, the Tokugawa and the Machi No Hito of the large towns, by dwelling in the tent or tabernacle shaped houses first erected by Jin Mu Tenno, have fulfilled Noah's prophecy regarding Japhet, 'He shall dwell in the tents of Shem.'"Regarding dark-skinned Japanese, McLeod writes: "In my travels I came across the remnants of a Black Race, nearly all of them had the woolly head and features of the Negro... Negro faces are to be seen scattered up and down the Empire; they have the complexion of a Mulatto. ...The Japanese called them Black Devils."McLeod's remarkable book is still cited to the present day by proponents of the Japanese Jewish ancestry theory.

Presents the geography of Italy and the life of Rome at three different periods of her growth: her infancy, her strong manhood, and her old age. Relates how Rome in her early years established herself in Italy, then engaged in conflict with Carthage, her most powerful neighbor and enemy, and finally extended her power all around the Mediterranean, giving to the world peace, law and order, and making unconsciously a highway both for Greek culture and for Christianity to spread to the West. Suitable for ages 9 and up.

Presents the geography of Italy and the life of Rome at three different periods of her growth: her infancy, her strong manhood, and her old age. Relates how Rome in her early years established herself in Italy, then engaged in conflict with Carthage, her most powerful neighbor and enemy, and finally extended her power all around the Mediterranean, giving to the world peace, law and order, and making unconsciously a highway both for Greek culture and for Christianity to spread to the West. Volume 3 in the 7-volume Streams of History series, which presents a vivid picture of the growth of Western Civilization from the early source of the historic stream back in the Nile, the Tigro-Euphrates and the Indus valleys, and then its widening and deepening as it moves westward. The series highlights the contributions of each culture to the stream of history and shows how its contributions are caught up and carried on to future peoples and nations. The student is led to see how each grows out of that which precedes, and shadows forth what follows, and that the discovery of America, and its subsequent institutional development was the fruitage of a seed which lay deep in the historic soul of Europe. Suitable for ages 9 and up.

Sunday Times Top 10 Bestseller Shortlisted for a British Book Industry Book of the Year Award 2016 Ancient Rome matters. Its history of empire, conquest, cruelty and excess is something against which we still judge ourselves. Its myths and stories - from Romulus and Remus to the Rape of Lucretia - still strike a chord with us. And its debates about citizenship, security and the rights of the individual still influence our own debates on civil liberty today. SPQR is a new look at Roman history from one of the world's foremost classicists. It explores not only how Rome grew from an insignificant village in central Italy to a power that controlled territory from Spain to Syria, but also how the Romans thought about themselves and their achievements, and why they are still important to us. Covering 1,000 years of history, and casting fresh light on the basics of Roman culture from slavery to running water, as well as exploring democracy, migration, religious controversy, social mobility and exploitation in the larger context of the empire, this is a definitive history of ancient Rome.SPQR is the Romans' own abbreviation for their state: Senatus Populusque Romanus, 'the Senate and People of Rome'.

While the ancient Romans continue to be regarded as highly civilized, there are aspects of ancient Roman life, including the foods that they ate (dormice were a delicacy) and their leisure activities (such as the notorious gladiatorial fights to the death), that seem strange and repellent to us today. This high-interest history book makes use of kids fascination with the disgusting to appeal to young readers who might not be as interested in a more straightforward history title. In its own unorthodox manner, the volume covers Roman culture, food, hygiene, medicine, religion, and military might, offering readers a comprehensiveif sometimes stomach-turningview of ancient Roman life.

While the ancient Romans continue to be regarded as highly civilized, there are aspects of ancient Roman life, including the foods that they ate (dormice were a delicacy) and their leisure activities (such as the notorious gladiatorial fights to the death), that seem strange and repellent to us today. This high-interest history book makes use of kids fascination with the disgusting to appeal to young readers who might not be as interested in a more straightforward history title. In its own unorthodox manner, the volume covers Roman culture, food, hygiene, medicine, religion, and military might, offering readers a comprehensiveif sometimes stomach-turningview of ancient Roman life.